Christmases aren't so bad
by PercyFosterMellark
Summary: It's Callie first Christmas with the fosters, and she's worried that it's going to turn out bad, just like the rest of them ever since her mother has died. Jesus decides to step up as a brother, and tries to make it rememberable for her.
1. Chapter 1

Callie sits on the couch next to her brother, Jude, and sighed. She was terrified.

It's Christmas Eve.

She wraps her arm around Jude's shoulders, and looked at the Christmas tree that her mothers had made her help the family with.

Jude smiles at her, and she smiles back, even though she was still terrified. It was going to be the first Christmas since her mother died and her father ended up in jail. Callie isn't worried about herself, she's worried about Jude. She hopes that Jude would be happy tomorrow morning, she knew he would. The fosters had made their love for her and Jude official when they asked if it was okay to adopt them, even though it was their wedding day.

Why was Callie worried? She isn't sure. She could tell that they loved Jude as much as she did herself.

She kisses Jude's cheek, glad that she broke up with Brandon to be here.

Callie felt horrible at first, but Brandon understood. She loved him, just liked she loved his family, and his family wanted her. Callie didn't want to turn that down, especially after she realized how much she needed them, her moms, and the twins.

Callie looks back down at Jude, who fell asleep on her shoulder. Callie was tired herself, but her brain refused to let her sleep. She gives Stef a small smile as she comes into the living room, who's face lit up when she saw Jude sleeping on her shoulder.

"Do you want me to take him up?" Stef asks quietly, still smiling. "It's not a big deal, Callie." She adds as she senses Callie about to tell her no.

Callie looks back down at Jude briefly.

"No, it's okay," Callie answers, looking up at Stef. "Really."

Stef sits in the empty spot next to her on the couch.

"Something's bothering you," Stef points out. "What is it? You've been stressing out all week. Are we making y-"

Callie let's out a small quiet laugh at Stef's concern. "It's not you at all! Trust me. I'm just scared for tomorrow," Her fingers find her mothers necklace around her neck unconsciously. "We haven't had a good Christmas in such a long time. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. I just want Jude to be happy tomorrow."

"Callie," Stef says, grabbing Callie's cold hand her warm one. "We want you to be happy too! We're trying our best, Callie, we really are. I understand your afraid from the past, but we really want you to be happy, Love."

Callie rests her head on Stef's shoulder, still holding her hand. "I know. I am happy." Callie closes her eyes for a few minutes before she stands up. "I'm gonna go take Jude up."

Stef starts to complain, but Callie stops her. "It's getting late. I'm going up stairs to go to bed, anyways. Come on, Jude," She says quietly as Stef kisses her head and murmurs her a goodnight. "It's getting late, baby."

Callie brings Jude to bed, and notices that Jesus bed is empty, but doesn't question it. "Goodnight, Baby." Callie tells Jude as she kisses his forehead, and goes back downstairs.

She takes the same seat on the couch as before, and stares at the tree, telling herself that tomorrow wouldn't be so bad; she has her family.

Jesus comes in and sits down next to her. "I heard you and mom before," He tells her, looking at her. He had to admit, Callie was naturally beautiful. "You don't have to worry. We all love you guys."

Callie nods, and he notices a tear falling down her cheek, and he rests a hand on her leg. "Hey," Jesus tells her, not sure what else to do. "What's wrong? Never mind, you don't have to tell me if you want t-"

"I'm fine," Callie tells him, wiping away the tear. "It's just that the last Christmas I had with my mom, the next day sh-"

"Hey," Jesus mumbles, wrapping his arms around her body, which is shaking with sobs, and she buries her face in his chest. "Hey, don't cry. Please?" His fingers find her hair, and run them through it, in hopes it would calm his foster sister down. It scared him to see her so vulnerable and weak; he was so used to her hiding and controlling her emotions and being strong. It didn't really scare him to see her like this, he hated to see her like this. It makes him know how much luckier he was than her, not going to foster house to foster house. Mariana and him got sent her, and they stayed here. But Callie, she took years of abuse for Jude. She heard people tell her that she was worthless. But she wasn't. He felt her tears staining his shirt.

"Hey," He whispers in her ear. "It's okay, Callie."

Callie looks up at her foster brother. "I know. I'm sorry. I'm just scared. I'm just worried that it's going to turn out bad again."

Jesus wipes away the tears that were still on her cheeks. He stares at her tear-stained face, and smiles at her. "It's okay. I understand. Me and Mariana never had very good Christmases until we came here. We were used to having our mom high or something. When you have a bad past, it doesn't mean you can't have a better future. Don't worry," He says, taking her hand. He never thought that he would ever had a deep connection with Callie, at least not like what the connection between her and Mariana have became like. "It's getting late."

Callie follow Jesus up the stairs, not letting go of his hand. When they get to her and Mariana closed bedroom door, she suddenly wraps her arms around his neck. Surprised, Jesus hugs her back, his hands on her back.

"You're a good brother," Callie says. "Thanks again."

"No problem, Cals."

"Cals?" Callie questions him, letting go of him.

"Yeah! I figured I'd come up with a nickname for you. It's okay if you don't like it. I won't call you that."

Callie let's out a small laugh as she opens her bedroom door. "Nah," She says. "It's okay, J."

"J?"

"Yeah. It was the first thing that I could come up with, and it's shorter than your real name, so I thought it would do."

Jesus laughs as Callie quietly opens the door.

"That's lame," He tells her jokingly, still laughing. "Goodnight, Cals." He says as the door closes, but he can hear her say something back through the closed door.

"Goodnight, Jesus."

* * *

><p>Jesus woke up at exactly four in the morning the next day, hoping to get Callie a good present. After talking to her last night, he wanted to make sure that this Christmas was going to be one of her best. He quietly leaves his room, making sure that Jude is still soundly asleep before going to wake up Mariana, who automatically starts complaining.<p>

"Shh! You're gonna wake up Callie!" Jesus whispers. "Get dressed and meet me downstairs."

Twenty minutes later, Mariana walks down the stairs, giving him the death stare.

"This better be good. You forgot to get Lexi a Christmas preset, and just realized that?"

"No, I forgot to get Callie a present. Last night she was talking to be about how she was afraid that today wasn't going to turn out good because she never really had a good experiences with them."

His twin face suddenly softens. "You're a good brother, Jesus." Mariana tells him as she kisses his cheek and walks over to the door, bracing for the cold air of the early morning.

"Yeah, whatever. Just help me find something that she'd like that's not a necklace."

"Why can't it be a necklace?"

"Because she has her mothers, and she never takes it off. I want it to be something that she'd wear."

"Can't you just give her one of your beanies? She'd look nice in them."

"No," Jesus says, walking down the street, wanting to get back before everybody wakes up, or at least before Jude and Callie so they didn't realize that him and Mariana were gone. "It has to be something nice, like a bracelet."

Mariana groans and he pulls her along with him, ignoring her complaints. He was surprised to see the Jewelry shop open.

"Come on, Mariana!" She doesn't answer, and he snaps his fingers in her face. "Wake up! Help me find Callie a nice bracelet."

"Wha? Wha-"

"Help me find a bracelet. We only have like 3 hours before everybody in our house wakes up."

"Callie doesn't have very high expectations, Jesus. Just find one and let's go."

Two hours later, Jesus finally found a bracelet that stood out to him, that he knows that Callie would like. He quickly pays the old man working there who tells him good luck, and leaving about two or three ones left in his wallet.

When they walk through the front door, Lena and Stef are sitting at the table, drinking coffee.

"Where have you been?" Both of them demand, startled to see them up this early, Jesus carrying a small box.

"It wasn't me," Mariana says, going up the stairs. "Ask Jesus!"

Both if them turn to him, and he's prepared.

"I was talking to Callie last night," He explains. "And she told me that she was worried about today and that it wasn't going to turn out well, so decided to get her a present to make sure that it would be nice for her, since I put in some money for the iPod we got for Jude."

"Your a good brother," Both of them say, hugging him. "Mommy sandwich! I'm so proud of our little Jesus!"

Jesus smiles, and hugs them back. "I'm going to get some more sleep."

"If you don't fall asleep, wake up everybody else! We aren't going to open the presents until everybody wakes up!" Stef calls behind him as he races up the stairs.

Jesus double checks the small box, making sure that the bracelet was still there. He sits in his chair, feeling that it still wasn't enough. He looks over at his brother, who was still asleep.

He was thinking about what Mariana saying that Callie would look good in one of his beanies, and he sighs, and grabs his favorite beanie, his lucky grey one. He'll just get himself a new one.

He'll admit that picturing Callie in it made him know that Mariana was right. Callie would look good in his hat.

He looks back over at Jude, and decides to wake him up.

"Jude!" He shouts, jumping onto the younger boy. "Wake up! Its Christmas!"

"Go away," Jude mumbles, waving him off. "I'm tired."

"But Santa came!"

"Santa's not even real, Jesus. Let me sleep."

Mariana shows up in their doorway. "Do you mind?"

"Well, way to ruin the Christmas spirt, you two." Jesus says as he sits on the edge of his brothers bed.

"Judicorn!" Mariana shouts, tickling him. "Come on! It's Christmas, and Santa came!"

"I tried that," Jesus tells her. "He just rolled over and told me that Santa isn't real."

"Well, he's real in my heart! Judicorn!"

Jude finally sits up, and rubs the sleep out of his eyes. "It's Christmas?" He asks sleepily.

"Yup! But we have to wake up Callie before we can check the tree."

"Can we scare her?"

* * *

><p>When Callie wakes up the next morning, she's surprised to see Mariana, Jesus and Jude hovering over her.<p>

"Woah! Holy shit! What the hell!" Callie exclaims, grabbing the fabric of her blankets.

"Merry Christmas!" They say together, smiling.

"A nice good morning would've been fine." Callie mumbles, and they laugh.

"Moms told us to wake you up before we started opening presents, then we'll eat breakfast," Jesus tells her as Mariana and Jude race down the stairs, and Callie climbs out of bed. "That's how we settled in on waking you up. No offense, Cals, but you sleep like a rock sometimes."

"And you don't?" Callie questions as he follows her downstairs were Stef and Lena are sitting on the couch, a video camera set up, Mariana and Jude laughing tougher on the floor. "I don't understand how you wake up in time for school."

"That's my speciality," Jesus says as he sits next between Jude and Mariana, and pats the space next to him. "Come on! There's stuff for you too."

Callie sits down between her two brothers, and smiles at Jude. "Merry Christmas, Jude." She mumbles as she kisses his cheek, making his smile widen.

The rest of the morning was full of happiness. Even Callie was enjoying herself, laughing at Mariana's expression when she realized that Callie was the one who payed for some of her new clothes, and quickly handed her the present she got her.

Callie opened the presents that were for her and thanked Stef and Lena, and payed attention to what Jude got.

Some more clothes, mostly shorts, a new game for the PSP that Connor gave him, and the iPod touch that everybody paid for.

Jesus got a new set of wheels for the skateboard they gave him at the quince, clothes, and a video game that Callie got him. She wasn't sure what else to get him, and Mariana claimed it would be fine.

Callie was sitting on the couch a few hours later, music playing, watching as Stef and Lena danced with Jude, and Mariana danced with her boyfriend, Zach, who decided to surprise her by coming over today.

Jesus walked in and sat down next to her, like last night.

"You forgot to open a present," Jesus says, handing her a small box and a grey beanie. "Here. Open it."

Callie listens, opening the box he handed her.

Jesus watches her carefully as she opens the box. He and Mariana had went out together two weeks ago, and he decided to get Callie something. He wasn't sure what to get. He wanted to get her a necklace, but he didn't want it to be something she hardly wore, due to her mothers necklace that she always wore. So he settled in on a gold bracelet and a grey beanie that was lucky.

Callie felt like his present put the one she gave him to shame. Just dumb video game that he probably already had.

"Thank you, Jesus." Callie say, and Jesus know she means it.

"It was the only thing I could think of to get you. I figure that I would get you something, you know. To remember our first Christmas as siblings."

"I feel bad that I only got you a video game. Mariana told me it'd be fine."

"Nah, it's okay. It was my lucky beanie. I'd thought maybe you'd like it, but don't feel bad," Jesus answers as he puts the beanie he gave her over her curls, some of them still sticking out and fixes the bracelet on her wrist. "I have something in mind that can make up for it." He says as he stands up, holding out his hand.

"No," Callie answers simply. "I can't dance."

Jesus laughs. "Really? You should have seen yourself at Mariana's party and moms wedding! You can't dance?"

Callie shakes her head. "Well, I _am_ pretty decent. I just don't trust your dancing skills."

"Hey! Come on! Please! Just to one song?"

"No."

Jesus grabs Callie hand, ignoring her complaints. "I'm not going to let my pretty sister sit alone on our couch all night on Christmas."

Callie laughs as he trips over his own foot. "I would have prefer that. You're really clumsy."

Jesus sighs, and puts a hand over his chest, pretending to be hurt. "You're meaner than Mariana."

Callie playfully punches his shoulder. "Okay, I'll add that to my quality of being a sister list. Got anything else you want me to add?"

"Yeah. I really need to give you the rest of my beanies. You look really good, Cals."

"You know what?" Callie asks Jesus, smiling, proud to be calling him her brother.

"Christmases aren't so bad?"

* * *

><p>I know it's like 3 months late, but I wanted to write a short story about Callie and Jesus, when she and Jesus start to have more of a closer relationship. Please review if you like it, and I might add more, but for now it's a one-shot.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

So I decided to make this a bunch of one-shots between Callie and Jesus. I really hope to see them together as siblings in the show more often. I think it'd be nice. Anyways, just a series of one shots.

* * *

><p>I was walking down the hall, going to my next class. I was almost late, but I didn't mind. I take this way to my math class everyday to see Callie. Usually she'd be with Wyatt or Mariana, but I haven't seen her yet. When I turn the corner, surprised to see a group of kids still in the hallway, hallways are always empty this late into the passing period. There's the sound of boys and girls laughing, the girls whispering into each other's ears.<p>

"Can't speak anymore? You had no problem talking to me yesterday, bitch," One boy says, laughing at himself, and there's the sound of him hitting somebody. "Come on. Just say one thing, please?"

There's no response from whoever they were crowded around.

"Upset that your mom didn't want you?" A girl asks, shutting her mini mirror. "I won't feel to bad. Nobody wants you, a trashy foster girl. I heard that you had to get your brother out of an abusive house. Both of you should've stayed there."

The group laughs again, ignoring the bell ringing. I drop my skateboard, and push through the kids, who are looking at me weird as I push them away. When I get to the front, I see Callie standing there, her back pressed to the lockers, face red from where the leader guy hit her. The grey beanie I gave her over her curls. It certainly wasn't lucky for her.

And I feel horrible.

"Leave my sister alone!" I tell them, standing in front of Callie, just in case somebody tries to hit her again.

They all laugh at me.

"We all know she isn't your sister, kid," The boy in front tells me. "She's a trashy foster kid that nobody wants, just like her younger brother!"

"Why don't you just shut the fuck up and think!" I tell him, shoving his chest. "Don't talk about my sister and brother like that! She's not a piece of trash! You should look at yourself. I love her and her brother, and so do my moms."

He shoves me back. "Stop defending her! You know that we're right!"

"Your not right at all! She's beautiful and talented! I saw you trying to play lacrosse the other day, Jacob!" I say recognizing him as a senior, who struggled with lacrosse tryouts yesterday. It was quite funny. "I'm guessing that you get whatever you want, because your mothers little baby!"

"At least I have a mom!"

"What about your dad?" I ask. "I heard that your parents got divorced. What's your mom doing know? Smoking pot and drinking and sleeping with every guy she sees?"

"Shut up!" He roars, shoving me again. "At least my mom still cares about me!"

"What do you know about her mother?" I demand, looking back at Callie. "Her mother did a lot better than yours! Let me g-"

Jacob punches me, and can feel Callie hand on my back. "Jesus! It's not worth it." She whispers in my ear.

"I have one more thing to say," I whisper back to her. "Trust me. And you're my sister. I'm not going to let them act like your nothing. You're worth a lot more than them."

I face Jacob and his asshole friends.

"She's my sister," I tell him, making eye contact with him. "She's a great person. Worth more than you, a lot more. She taught me stuff that nobody else could, so back off. Her brother is the same. He is my brother as well. My mom is the vice principle, and my other mom works at the police station. The next time I see any of you or your younger siblings talking to her or my brother, I go to my mother and she tells Stef. I bet your parents would be very disappointed if any of you ended up in jail."

I can see the anger in all of their faces before they turn around and go separate ways to their afternoon classes. I turn back to Callie, only to find her walking quickly down the hall in the other direction, towards the bathrooms. I grab my skateboard, and run after her.

"Callie!" I call, getting on the skateboard, deciding that it be faster. "Cals, wait!"

The bathroom door closes behind her, and I shove it open. I don't care that it's the girls restroom, I just want to talk to my sister. The amazing one that I got because of moms choice to adopt her.

"I'm fine, Jesus!" I can her hear tell me, but she's not fine. There's tears streaming down her face and the sink is running.

"Cals," I say, holding my hands up, taking a step closer. "I just want to help you."

"Jesus, leave!" Callie tells me, her hand on my chest, pushing me away from her. "Please, just leave me alone." She slides down to the floor, her face in her hands.

I stare at her in shock, she was starting to scare me, but I couldn't bring myself to get Lena. I should be able to help Callie myself. She rarely showed emotion like this near me, it was sign that she is opening up to me, and I feel proud. I look at the gold bracelet on her wrist, smiling at the the memories of her making fun of my dancing skills. It was the first time I felt like we actually had a sibling connection.

I sit down next to her, and wrap an arm around her shoulders. "How long has this been happening?" I ask her softly.

"A few days before spring break." I hear Callie mumble.

Two months. That's how long ago spring break was. Next week is the last week of school, and she'd be a junior next school year. She'd be a junior in three months.

"Cals, you have to tell someone about this stuff! Hearing stuff like that isn't healthy."

"But it's true! My father never cared about me and Jude! And everybody else after him!"

"Hey, hey," I whisper, as I take her face in my hands, making her look at me. "I'm here. Lena and Stef are here. Mariana is here. We all love you and Jude, Cals." I wipe away tears from her face with my thumbs, and she nods.

"I know."

"Okay," I say smiling at her. "Look at me. Callie Jacob, I don't care what other people say about you. Just know that I don't care about where you're from. What you've done. What you look like. How you act. If you need somebody to talk to, I don't care if it's two in the morning, come to me. I won't judge. I won't ignore you. I'll listen."

"Okay," Callie says. "Okay."

I stand up and help her up, and hug her. "Come here," I mumble. "I'm serious though, come to me, Callie. You're my sister. I don't care what it is just promise that you'll come to me when you need something. I don't want you to get hurt, Cals."

"Thank you, Jesus."

"No problem," I tell her as I let go. "I love you. I'll see you later?"

"After school." Callie answers, giving me a small, sad smile as I leave her alone in the bathroom. It was something I didn't want to do, but she needed her space. I can trust her to not hurt herself.

* * *

><p>We sit at the table, all of us. Me, Mariana, Jude, Callie and moms. Brandon had stopped coming over here for awhile now, and judging by the looks on everybody's faces, it's bothering everybody. Callie the most. Her brown eyes meet mine, and I notice the sadness in her eyes. We sit silently, only speaking to ask someone for something. As soon as dinner done, I race up stairs.<p>

I sit on my bed, reading. It was a habit I gotten into before break, and nobody has notice. Yet.

There's a knock, and I look up, a small frown on my face. Divergent was finally getting to a very interesting part. Dauntless and Erudite have gone against the other three factions, well, controlled to do anyways. I see Callie standing in my door way, leaning against the door frame, a small frown on her face as well that disappears as soon as I notice it.

"Reading again?" Callie asks, gesturing to the book. "What happened to the old Jesus?"

"My skateboard got taken away. Again." I answer simply, and Callie gives a small smile.

"I still have a bruise on my ankle from that," She informs me, and her smile fades away without her noticing. "Just a huge line."

"Come here," I tell her, folding the corner of the page to find it easily, and pat the space on my bed. "What's wrong?"

Callie doesn't move, and shakes her head. "Nothing's wrong." Her voice cracks.

"You'd be surprised by how easy it is to tell that something's bothering you, Cals."

Callie let's out an annoyed sigh and sits in the space I patted moments before.

"He didn't come over today," She chokes out. "He didn't stop by. He didn't even call or anything. I thought maybe he would want to spend time with his family, I mean he mention something about coming over here again, but he hasn't."

"Cals, it's okay. I-"

"It's because of me. Because I did something for myself. Every time I do something for myself, I ruin it for other people. I mean, I thought he'd come, stop by and say hi to you guys, maybe give me a smile or something, but he didn't come at all."

"It was his choice, not yours." I tell her, in an attempt to make her feel better.

"Yeah, and my choice was the reason why all of you guys were pissed off at him after the wedding. He didn't kiss me, I kissed him. My choice is the reason why he doesn't even live here anymore."

"If it wasn't for your choice, I wouldn't have another sister, Callie. I'm happy with the choice you made. I'm happy that moms adopted you with Jude. I'm proud to call you my sister."

Callie doesn't answer, and I realize how different she looked compared to before the effect of Brandon not being in the house anymore. She was happy when she first got back, but that slowly disappeared. Callie's shoulders seemed to slump over more than they did when she first got here, almost eight months ago. There circles underneath her eyes. At night when Mariana was at a friend house, I would be able to hear her faint sobbing, or the sound of the guitar strings.

"It's just isn't the same, Jesus. I'm adopted, but my feelings for him haven't gone anywhere, to be honest, I wish that he'd just come back."

"I know you already know that you two can't date. It doesn't mean you guys don't have a shot at being friends."

Callie shrugs. "It's not going to work out."

"Cals, I'm not going to lie, I've notice how you've been crying yourself to sleep, or how you've been playing the guitar he gave you."

Callie bites her lip. "Sorry. It just seems to help. But we'll never be friends. It's not going to work. It's not worth it, and besides we don't have a chance."

"I heard that he might come over for family night tomorrow," I tell her. "Maybe you do."

* * *

><p>After three hours of bothering Brandon to come over tonight, he finally agreed, especially, after I told him how Callie been doing, what her habits have been since he moved out.<p>

I could tell by his similar figure that his new habits were the same. I could just imagine him falling asleep at the piano.

That night was full of shouting and laughter. That night after we calmed down, everybody sitting on the couch, well most of us. Brandon sat at the piano, his hands running over the keys easily, Callie sat on the chair next to the piano, playing the guitar while Jude leaned against her legs. The music they created was much better that what it sounded like alone, and I knew that music was the only way to explain what they felt for each other. They were better with each other, not without each other.

Stef was sitting next to me. "You did this, didn't you?" She whispers.

"Huh? Getting Brandon to come over and them to play together?"

Stef nods. "They sound great together. I'm proud that you did this for them."

"I did it more for Callie. I started to notice how she'd fall asleep at night," I tell Stef, looking at Callie. "She misses him."

Brandon seems happier too, looking over at Callie every few moments, a small smile on his face, and I know that he enjoys it just as much as Callie does, and he focuses on the notes again as he notcies Callie Jacob smile.


	3. Chapter 3

Pain. Everybody has to feel pain once in their life, that's what life is about. But it goes away after awhile because it gets tired of playing with you. It doesn't matter what the pain is, people always feel it. If it's loosing somebody, if it's being replaced, or even physical pain. But it's always there is some way. It fades away, but it's always there, waiting to come out when something triggers it.

Everybody says it goes away after awhile, no matter how much pain they have or how strong it is. To be honest, I do not think that is the case, at least not when you know a person like Callie Quinn Jacob. I don't think her pain ever leaves her, I think she always feels it, a little bit, then it's like a smack in the face. She's always showing signs of pain, Callie. She's amazing at hiding her feelings, and sometimes, that's the worst thing in the world.

To my theory of her always feeling pain, I have proof. And I want to help her, but I can't, I just can't only he can. My older brother. I think she has experienced all of the types of pain, no, I know she has. Callie is quite when something's bothering her, it hurts her to much to talk about it. There's two types of pain. Mentally and physically, but there's so much more to it than that.

Physically, for Callie, it's the scars on her wrists. The small thin white lines that cover her wrists and parts of her arms. I could tell she was young when she did it, judging by how old they looked. At the age she did it, she thought bringing more pain to her would help it go away. And maybe it did help. Another thing is the circles underneath her eyes, how she has nightmares from all the terrible people in her life. All of the ones who have hurt her.

Mentally, you can tell it's what she's thinking about. She's always wondering why all of these things happen to her, and she's telling herself that all of the bad thing are true. She makes happen to herself so often, her brain doesn't react to it anymore.

Right now, I sit in the kitchen next to her, watching her closely, and it's the worst type of pain I have ever seen in her eyes. Callie looks over at Brandon and Lou, who are happily talking, and I see all the betrayal in her eyes. All of the emotions, all of the wanting for him. It doesn't bother me anymore that she cares about him in a way she's not allowed to. She can't control it. Callie's shoulders seem to slump forward even more as Brandon whispers something in Lou's ear, causing her to laugh.

This pain for Callie is not new, but it's also different. She has always felt pain of being replaced by people who she got stuck with, but here, it hurts her a lot more, because she knows him, and he knows her. Callie looks down at her food, and I sigh and look down at mine. I don't want to see the pain in her eyes, I don't want to be able to see her asking herself questions, wondering what she did wrong when all she did was do one thing for herself. I look up again when I notice that Brandon is staring at Callie, and he looks like he wants to say something to her, but he decides against it, turning his attention back to Lou, and I know he hasn't forgotten about her like she thinks.

He's doing it for both of them, acting like it was just some stupid high school romance, but I now see that it's much more than that, it's not just because of attraction, it's because of real connections.

I guess Brandon understands Callie's pain much more than I thought.


End file.
